The Supreme Court docket has struck out a movement filed by socialite Fred Ajudua difficult its earlier ruling within the long-running $1.043 million fraud case involving a Palestinian businessman, Mr. Zad Abu Zalaf.
The apex courtroom’s resolution, delivered on Thursday, October 30, 2025, adopted Ajudua’s formal discover to withdraw the movement, successfully clearing the trail for the resumption of trial proceedings on the Particular Offences Court docket sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
On the resumed listening to on Friday, October 31, 2025, earlier than Justice Mojisola Dada, Ajudua’s counsel, Olalekan Ojo, SAN, knowledgeable the courtroom that the defence had withdrawn its software on the Supreme Court docket and that the movement had been struck out. He famous that this growth allowed the decrease courtroom to proceed with the pending bail software.
Ajudua is standing trial for allegedly defrauding Mr. Abu Zalaf of $1,043,000 beneath false pretences. The case, which started in 2005 earlier than Justice M.O. Obadina of the Lagos State Excessive Court docket, has witnessed a sequence of delays through the years, typically attributed to varied authorized objections raised by the defendant.
The case was subsequently reassigned to Justices J.E. Oyefeso and later to Justice Mojisola Dada, earlier than whom Ajudua was re-arraigned on June 4, 2018.
Throughout Friday’s sitting, Ojo continued the cross-examination of the third prosecution witness, Afanda Bashir Emmanuel, an investigator with the {Economic} and {Financial} Crimes Fee (EFCC).
Beneath cross-examination, Emmanuel informed the courtroom that he inherited the case from one other investigator and was not concerned within the preliminary levels of the investigation.
Justice Dada thereafter directed the prosecution to provide the unique police investigation diary on the subsequent adjourned date to make clear points raised throughout cross-examination.
The courtroom subsequently adjourned the matter to November 20 and 21, 2025, for continuation of listening to.